Adventures on the Friendship Express
by GreenSonic21
Summary: Spin-off story to "Sonic Generations: Friendship is Timeless", taking place between chapters fifteen and sixteen during the train ride to Canterlot. Train rides can be very uneventful, but not when you're riding the Friendship Express! Plenty of adventures abound on the heroes' way to Canterlot. So sit down and get comfortable; it's going to be a long ride.
1. Hidden Palace(s)

As the Friendship Express left the outskirts of Ponyville and began making its way across the plains towards Canterlot, Sonic, Spike, and the ponies were settled in for what they expected to be a long ride, still listening to the music coming from Sonic's cell phone. They were all lightly bobbing their heads in time with the music, a few like Spike, Twilight, Applejack, and Shining Armor even moving in their seats like they were dancing.

Soon, the upbeat song that was playing came to an end and everybody settled down in their seats again. "Mm, those are some good tunes ya got there, Sugar-hog," Applejack commented.

"Yeah, you got anything else that sounds awesome?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Sonic shrugged, "Yeah, I've got plenty of other tracks on here. Hang on; let me find something else…" He held his phone in both hands and began sliding his left thumb over the screen, flipping through his music library.

At the front of the train, meanwhile, Tails and Pinkie were working to keep the Friendship Express going. For the most part, Pinkie was getting into the role of conductor and was piloting the train while Tails was checking everything to make sure they were well prepared. "How does the water supply look, Pinkie?" the fox asked while checking some of the gauges from behind the pink pony.

"Super duper!" Pinkie replied as she sat and looked straight ahead at the boiler.

"Okay, good," Tails murmured. He looked back over his shoulder at the coal littering the cabin and said, "We should have plenty of coal here to get us to Canterlot. I guess we're good to go, then." He walked over to the window on the right side of the cabin and pressed his right hand against the frame as he stuck his head out, looking up at Canterlot in the distance as the wind from the train's movement blew in his face. It looked like they had a long way to go, but at the speed they were going, they should arrive in no time.

Looking back down, Tails' eyes went wide as he gasped, "Whoa, what the - ?!" He pulled his head back inside the cabin sharply and exclaimed, "Pinkie, hit the brakes!" The startled pink earth pony leapt up at his shout and did as he said, pulling the lever for the brakes.

Back in the second coach from the engine, the rest of the group was thrown for a loop when the brakes started slowing down the train, Sonic, Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash being jerked forward while Twilight, Rarity, Shining Armor, and Cadance were yanked backwards, all of them letting out a gasp of surprise at the sudden stop. Rainbow Dash was sent tumbling from her spot atop the seat Sonic and Spike were sitting in and she probably would've landed on top of Spike had Sonic not managed to get his hand in front of the baby dragon in time to keep him from being sent flying out of his seat.

Everybody sat back into a normal sitting position a few seconds after the train slid to a halt, save for Rainbow Dash who was lying on the floor at Twilight and Rarity's hooves. "Ow… what the hay?!" the rainbow-maned pegasus groaned as she lifted her head up and rubbed the back of it with a hoof.

"Oh… I really did not like that…" Fluttershy murmured.

Applejack patted her on the back with a hoof, "Don't worry, Fluttershy. Whatever happened to cause that, we're fine."

Cadance looked out the nearby window and noticed what little scenery there was wasn't moving anymore. "We've stopped! But why?" she wondered.

She was about to receive her answer, as seconds later, the door leading to the front slid open, everyone looking to see Tails and Pinkie standing on the other side of it. Sonic, who was helping Rainbow Dash up onto her hooves, looked up at Tails and asked, "Tails, what happened, man?"

Tails scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Uh, sorry about the sudden stop, guys, but we've got a bit of a problem."

Pinkie piped up before he could continue, "There's a big, whirly portal up ahead, like a big tunnel! We would've gone through at the speed we were going!"

Sonic turned towards his window, walked over to it, and slid it up, poking his head out and looking towards the front of the train. "Shoot! You guys were right to stop the train! That thing's right in the middle of the tracks!" he said.

Shining Armor, who was looking out the window on his side, added, "And you weren't kidding when you said 'big', Pinkie Pie! The only way we'll be able to get the train around that is if we pick it up off the tracks!"

As the two pulled their heads back inside, Twilight asked, "Do you have any idea where it leads, Tails?"

The fox answered, "No. That's why I told Pinkie to stop the train. If there aren't any tracks on the other side, the train could get really messed up, and that would cut our trip short."

Rarity asked, "What are we going to do now? The Princesses didn't use their magic, so they're still on their way to Canterlot! We can't ask them to send a carriage right now!"

Rainbow spoke, "What's the problem, Rarity? Shining said we could go around the portal if we lifted the train off the tracks. We'll just have Twilight do it and we'll be on our way!"

Tails spoke, "I don't think that'll be necessary, Rainbow. I checked my radar while I was up front. If the readings I got are correct, then that portal isn't entirely stable. If we go in there, we might be able to find a way to close it, or at least open up a new portal behind it that we can use so we don't have to abandon the train."

Pinkie clapped her hooves on the fox's shoulders from behind, saying, "Now you're thinking with portals, Tails!" She pushed herself off of him and, while she was still on her hind legs, tossed off her pilot's hat and neckerchief. She then said, "Come on, gang, let's see what kind of mystery is on the other side!"

Rainbow piped up, "Hey, I'm all for having another awesome adventure, but why can't we just go around it? We could just lift the train off the tracks like Shining said, or we could just use the Warp Ring to get around the portal!"

Twilight spoke, "I know we have to get to Canterlot, Rainbow Dash, but we've investigated all the other portals we've seen so far. We're not exactly in Ponyville anymore, but as long as it's right here, we should still see where it leads."

Shining nodded, "I agree, Twily, especially since Tails said it was unstable. What if something happens because we didn't investigate?" Twilight glanced to the side at him at that.

Spike looked up at Sonic and asked, "Do you think we've got enough time to go check it out, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog looked down at him and replied, "We'll make it quick. If it's unstable, we shouldn't be in there long." He then looked at Tails and asked, "You're sure it's stable enough to go in there, right Tails?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah, I think so. My radar started acting weird while it was getting the readings. That's what makes me think it's unstable, but I'm not entirely sure. We should be fine, though."

Cadance stood up, "Then let's go. We don't want to keep Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna waiting any longer than we have to." Everyone else agreed with her and they all stood up, all of them making their way to the nearby exit and climbing down off the train.

Quickly making their way to the front and going past the engine, the group soon stood in front of the portal blocking their way. The image on the surface seemed to be showing an underground cavern, but every few seconds, the image would become distorted before returning to normal. When that happened, it almost looked like static on a television screen. This only slightly confused everyone, though, since Tails had already said there was something strange about the portal. With this in mind, they all leapt into the portal, ready to see where it would take them…

* * *

Everyone landed feet/hooves first on solid ground and quickly scanned their surroundings. Just like the image on the portal had suggested, it appeared that they had touched down in some sort of underground cavern. They could see water coming down in falls in places off in the distance and what appeared to be some green lights brightening and dimming nearby. Looking back, they could see the portal they had just come through on one of the cavern walls.

"What is this place?" Rainbow wondered out loud.

"I have no clue. I've definitely never been here before," Sonic commented.

Spike looked up at him, "Really? You haven't?"

Sonic replied, "Hey, I've seen quite a few underground places before, but this is totally unique. I'm pretty sure I'd remember this." He glanced over at Tails and, upon seeing the fox looking down at his radar, asked, "Hey, Tails, are you getting anything?"

Tails answered, "No, not really. All I'm getting are those weird readings I picked up before." Sonic, the ponies, and Spike (who climbed up on Twilight's back) looked over his shoulders at the dual screens and saw what he was talking about. The radar seemed to be functioning normally, but the numbers and other readings on the bottom screen kept jumping every few seconds.

"Is it still okay fer us ta be here, darlin'?" Applejack asked.

Tails looked up at her, "Yeah, it should be."

Shining spoke, "Let's get moving, then. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we can get back to the train." With that, everyone started moving deeper into the cavern, no one noticing the portal behind them beginning to waver at the edges. After they rounded a corner, it sparked with electricity for several moments before it started to shrink, completely closing and vanishing after a few seconds…

As the group made their way through the cavern, they were quick to notice that the ground was uneven in a number of places, forcing everyone to climb on top of the parts that stuck up since the ground wasn't sloped in a lot of places. Strangely, it almost seemed as though someone had cut or chiseled the rock to give it the appearance they were seeing. This was further compounded when they saw, at the places where the ground did slope, there were green ramps to make straight slopes that were clearly not natural. Who had been down here, and for what purpose?

Walking between two small waterfalls, Sonic eyed one of the sources of the green lights they had seen earlier, noticing it was circular-shaped and seemed to be embedded in a rock column. "_Some kind of crystal, maybe?_" he wondered to himself.

Twilight looked at it as she and the others followed him between the waterfalls. "Strange…" she murmured. She faced forward after a moment and noticed Sonic had stopped just ahead. Looking past him, she saw the reason. "Is that a bridge?" she asked as she stopped next to Sonic.

The others stopped as well, all of them looking at it. "It is a bridge, Twilight. Strange how it's green like so many other things down here, though," Shining said.

"That's fer sure. Even some o' these rocks look green from a distance," Applejack commented.

Rainbow spoke, "Who cares what some rocks look like? Let's see where this leads!"

Spike drooled a bit, "Oh man… It looks like a bunch of emeralds all strung together…"

Rarity spoke, "Spike, please! Act like a proper gentleman!" Spike snapped back to attention at her words and stood up straight, quickly wiping the drool off of his mouth. Rarity then spoke again, "That's better. I understand your excitement, darling, but this bridge is to be walked upon and nothing else. I am assuming it is strong enough to be walked on; after all, why else would it be here?"

Tails looked at the bridge carefully. "It kind of looks like those ice bridges we crossed when we were at those ice mountains. It should be just as sturdy," he said after a moment.

Sonic lifted his right foot, "Let's see." He set it down on the first segment, which immediately lit up as soon as his foot made contact. Everyone tensed up for a moment, but Sonic soon relaxed and started walking across the bridge, each segment lighting up as he walked. He reached the other side and called back, "No problem! Come on!" Everyone began making their way over the bridge to him at his reassurance.

As she walked across the bridge, Twilight looked off to the side, looking at the waterfalls and glowing lights. "_This place reminds me of the caverns below Canterlot,_" she mused to herself, glancing over at Cadance for a moment. Her favorite foalsitter did not appear to be worried, but Twilight wondered if she was thinking of the crystal caverns as well.

Tails was the last one across, the fox looking down at his radar as he walked behind the others. "_Weird… We've gotten pretty far away from where we entered from, but nothing's changed! The readings are still weird and I'm not getting a good signal,_" he thought.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Pinkie yelled, "Look out!" He looked up, only to see the party pony leaping towards him, practically tackling him onto his back as a silver-looking bat swooped down where his head had been. Not even a second after he landed on his back, Rainbow Dash shot up and delivered a flying kick to the bat, sending it crashing into a wall. It broke as soon as it hit the wall, revealing that it was actually a Badnik.

Pinkie grinned down at Tails, "You've gotta pay more attention, Tails! Good thing my Pinkie Sense told me you were going to get attacked from above!"

Tails cheeks turned a bit red under his fur, "I… see. Well, thank you, Pinkie!"

Sonic came over and helped Tails to his feet after Pinkie climbed off of him, asking, "You okay, Tails?"

The two-tailed fox nodded, "Yeah. That was my fault. I should've been looking around rather than down at my radar."

Rainbow Dash hovered overhead and said, "Heh, don't worry, Tails. I know how you eggheads just LOVE to get absorbed in whatever you think is so fascinating!"

Pinkie piped up, "Ooh, ooh!" When Sonic, Rainbow, and Tails looked at her, she reached into her mane and pulled out Tails' radar. She held it out to him as she said, "I grabbed this so it wouldn't get smashed! Here you go, Tails!"

Tails smiled as he took it from her, "Heh, thanks, Pinkie!"

The four of them heard Applejack call, "Hey! Y'all okay back there?" They looked to see everyone standing up ahead, starting to come back towards them.

Rainbow called back, "Yeah, we're cool, AJ!" The four of them then hurried to rejoin the rest of the group, passing by one of the green lights as they went. A second after they passed it, its surface changed from green to a grayish snow color…

A short while later, after dealing with more bat Badniks and some red dinosaur-like Badniks, the group came across what appeared to be a green tube going down into the rocky ground. The ground around it appeared to be made of emeralds, and there were little bits of emeralds littering the ground around it. While Spike and Rarity gathered the emerald bits up, the others gathered around the tube, looking down at it.

"Now what do y'all suppose this is here for?" Applejack asked.

Twilight put her face close to the ground and peered down into the tube. She spoke after a moment, "Is that… I think that's water down there."

Sonic quickly said, "Then we're not going down there. Last thing we need is to run into a dead end underwater, or for that tube to not empty out."

Fluttershy shivered, "Ooh… that sounds like it would be scary."

Shining nodded, "It does, Fluttershy, but I still wonder what this pipe is for. It must be here for some reason."

Rainbow shrugged, "Yeah, but what? And why is there still water in it?"

Pinkie perked up, "Ooh, I know! Maybe it's unfinished! Can we finish it?!"

While the others kept talking, Tails examined the area carefully. "_These gems that Rarity and Spike are picking up… these normal rocks around the hole… and these wet spots… Was there something here before?_" he wondered. Glancing off to the side, he noticed something on the ground he would've missed were it not for one of the glowing lights in the cavern. Moving closer to the discovery, he examined it carefully before looking back over his shoulder and calling, "Hey, guys!" Everyone turned to look at him at that; he said, "Look at this! I found some prints on the ground over here!"

The others came over and looked at the prints he had found. "You're right, Tails! These look pretty recent…" Shining mused.

Sonic looked closer at the prints before saying, "And wet. Did someone fall into the water?"

They all looked further ahead. "Well, whoever made these prints, it looks like they came from deeper inside this cavern," Twilight said.

Sonic spoke, "Well, let's see if they're still around. Maybe they know what this place is." Everyone agreed with that and began following the prints opposite the way they were going, Spike munching on some of the smaller gems Rarity let him keep as he rode on Twilight's back.

It wasn't long after they started following the trail of prints that the group noticed two other paw print trails heading in the same direction. Aside from size, the prints appeared to be very similar to the ones in the trail they were following. They looked more noticeable and wetter than the prints at the spot where the group had started tracking them. Still, no one was really sure who the prints belonged to. Spike and the Main Six thought they looked familiar, but nobody spoke up.

Suddenly, they all heard something from around a corner and came to a stop. "Ooh! Careful, Fido! We don't want to lose the precious gem!"

Sonic asked, "Fido? Who's that?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "That voice sounds familiar."

Rarity's face adopted an unusual glare as she said, "It certainly does, Twilight. I'd recognize it anywhere!" She suddenly ran ahead of the group, surprising them so much that nobody tried to stop her. There were surprised exclamations a second later, followed by Rarity screaming, "I KNEW IT WAS YOU, YOU… YOU DOGS!"

Spike placed his claws on Twilight's neck and used his arms to catapult off of her back, the unicorn's head bobbing a bit as he exclaimed, "Rarity!" He dashed ahead of the group, after the mare of his dreams. The others came running several seconds after the shock had worn off to find what would normally have been an amusing sight: Rarity and Spike playing tug-of-war with the three Diamond Dog leaders that had pony-napped Rarity so long ago, only instead of using a rope, both sides were pulling on a large emerald that was about as big as the Master Emerald, Rarity having her hooves wrapped around the bottom with Spike pulling her rear right leg while the Diamond Dogs gripped the top of the gem..

"Put the gem down this instant!" Rarity exclaimed.

"No! Be gone, pony! We found this gem first! It's ours!" the leader and owner of the earlier voice, Rover, said.

"LET GO OF IT!" Rarity shrieked.

"Save it, pony! Your annoying sounds won't work this time!" the large blue dog, Fido, said.

"Yeah, especially not when we have a gem this big to take back!" nodded the short dog, Spot.

Tails watched the spectacle for several seconds before turning to Sonic and asking, "Should we help them?"

Sonic looked back at the exchange. "Maybe, but which side?" he asked after a moment.

Twilight looked at him and said, "Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog shrugged, "What? They look evenly matched to me!"

Pinkie cheered, "Go, Rarity! Go, Spikey! Beat those doggies!"

The struggling continued for a couple seconds more before Spike, Rarity, and the Diamond Dogs all made one final pull, all of them grunting and straining to pull the gem to one side.

And that's when it happened.

While sliding her free leg back, Rarity suddenly lost her balance, causing her to slip and lose her grip on the gem. Both she and Spike fell forward with a gasp while the Diamond Dogs, who were unprepared for this, tumbled backwards with the gem in their paws. When they fell on their backs, the large jewel landed on its top and, to everyone's surprise, broke apart! The pieces of the gem scattered across the ground, moving a bit as they landed before coming to a stop.

Rarity and Spike looked up and gasped while the Diamond Dogs, upon seeing what happened, rolled over and stared in horror. "NOOOOOOOO! Not the precious gem!" Rover cried.

Fido picked up two of the pieces and looked down at them. "How did this happen?" he murmured.

Spot perked up as he said, "Wait! We can take all these gem pieces back with us! Then we'll have lots of gems!"

While they were talking, the others walked closer, most of them moving towards Spike and Rarity while Sonic, Tails, and Twilight moved a little closer to the Diamond Dogs. "How did it break like that? It should've taken more force to break a gem that big," Cadance commented.

Shining nodded, "Yeah. Is there something wrong with it?"

Tails walked over to one of the pieces on the ground and picked it up with his left hand, holding it up to his face and examining it. Spot noticed and said, "You! What are you doing?!"

Tails looked at him and replied, "I'm just examining the gem you found. You do know it's fake, right?"

Rover's eyes went wide, "Fake?! What?!" he cried.

Tails shrugged, "Sure. It's the most reasonable explanation for why it fell apart like that." He flipped his left hand around and let the piece fall to the ground, where it broke once again.

While the Diamond Dogs stared in shock at this fact, Spike looked up at Rarity as she sighed sadly. He stood up and asked, "Rarity? Are you okay?"

The white unicorn glanced down at him and said, "I'm fine, Spike. I just got my hopes up when I saw that gem. Gems that size are so rare; I should have known it wasn't real as soon as I saw it."

Applejack leaned close to the fashionista as she smirked, "Tom musta been pretty big too."

Rarity's eyes widened and then narrowed as she darkly muttered, "How many times am I going to be reminded of that today?"

Sonic, Twilight, and Tails walked over to her and the others, Sonic carrying one of the pieces in his right hand. "Ah, don't take it too hard, Rarity. It does look pretty convincing, even up close," Sonic said. He glanced down at the piece in his hand, "Guess you really got to look close to spot the difference."

Tails nodded at him, "Yeah, kind of like with iron pyrite." Sonic threw the piece in his hand back over his shoulder, the chunk bouncing off the ground before it went sliding backwards.

Shining looked over at the Diamond Dogs, who now seemed to be standing up, and asked, "Should we take them with us?"

Rarity stood up and simply said, "Absolutely not. I refuse to spend any extra time with them."

Sonic looked at her and asked, "Why not?"

Rainbow nodded, "Yeah, come on, Rarity! You reined 'em in the last time we saw them!"

Rarity protested, "After pony-napping me, showing a complete lack of hygiene, and subjecting me to horrid underground conditions, that is. This cavern is so much better than their tunnels, it's not even funny. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to move here."

While she was speaking, Rover quickly picked up on her tone and, after she finished talking, got up in front of her and said, "QUIET! Don't you start your whining or complaining or whatever you call it again! My ears are still ringing from the last time!"

Fido and Spot stepped up alongside him, Fido saying, "We don't need your spell this time anyway. We've already found plenty of gems here."

Twilight asked, "How did you even get here?"

Spot answered, "Tunnel. We walked down it and it led here. Not sure how, but we soon found gems here. Good enough for us!"

Rarity rolled her eyes, "How positively primeval."

Tails asked, "You guys really like gems, huh?"

Fido said, "Of course! Gems are our life! We're always itching to find more gems!"

Sonic smirked, "You know, there's plenty of water down here. A good bath ought to take care of that itch."

The Diamond Dogs stared at him for a moment before it seemed like a light bulb went on in their heads. Spot demanded, "Are you making fun of us?!"

Sonic glanced off to the side as he replied, "Maybe." He then looked at Rarity and winked, the white unicorn holding a hoof up to her mouth and giggling in response.

Fido growled, "Why, you…"

He was interrupted when Fluttershy let out a loud scream, one that was very clearly heard by everyone present. They all turned to her, Applejack asking, "What's the matter, Fluttershy? Why'd ya go and…" She trailed off as she and the others saw what Fluttershy was looking at.

As they looked into the distance, towards the waterfalls and the cavern wall, it began to change before their eyes. The once tan and brown rocks changed into a mix of yellow and purple lines, the clear blue water seemed to become light blue lines, and the emerald pieces turned into barely recognizable green shapes. And mixed in with the corrupted look of it all, amongst the strange shapes, were a multitude of ones and zeroes.

"What in the world is THAT?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I don't know, but it looks like its spreading!" Sonic growled. Indeed, what started as a small (from where everyone was standing) spot on the wall was beginning to expand, starting to cover the rest of the cavern.

"It almost looks like it's all being converted to code!" Tails gasped.

Rover turned and started running deeper into the cavern, calling back, "FIDO! SPOT! WE'RE LEAVING NOW!" The two Diamond Dogs quickly turned and did the same, running after their leader.

Rainbow called after them, "Hey, where are you three going?!" Suddenly, the ground began to shake, a nearby rock column breaking off from the ceiling and falling to the ground in front of the path the group had come from, practically blocking it off.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?! Is this place fallin' apart?!" Applejack exclaimed.

"It's not falling apart, it's being scrapped! Removed! Deleted! And soon we'll be deleted too!" Pinkie gasped.

Spike looked up at Tails, who was looking down at his radar, and waved arms while saying, "Tails, we've gotta get out of here! Get the Warp Ring out!"

Tails continued to look down at the dual screens of his radar for a moment, the readings looking even worse than they were before. It was a miracle it hadn't exploded yet. He then looked down at Spike and said, "Right!" He put his radar away and pulled out the ring, everyone moving away to give him room. He tossed it forward… but nothing happened. The ring stayed the same size and simply bounced when it hit the ground.

They all stared down at the ring in horror. "It's not working?!" Rarity cried.

Tails quickly grabbed it with both hands and held it up to his face, "That's impossible! It's got energy in it! More than enough to teleport all of us! So why isn't it working?!"

Twilight suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait! The Diamond Dogs said they went down a tunnel and ended up here! They must have gone through a portal without realizing it!"

Princess Cadance looked over at her and nodded, "That must be why they ran deeper into the cave! The portal must be up ahead somewhere!"

Sonic glanced back over his shoulder and noticed, just over the fallen pillar, that the strange corruption was spreading along the path they had come down. He looked back at the others and said, "Anything's better than standing around here! Let's go!" They all turned and ran to catch up with the Diamond Dogs, Tails tucking the Warp Ring away and Twilight placing Spike on her back since he was having trouble keeping up.

Sonic and Rainbow Dash took the lead, staying ahead of the rest of the group and keeping an eye out for any signs that the cavern was going to disappear right out from under them. Soon, Rainbow called down to Sonic, "There's a ledge coming up!"

Sonic quickly brought his feet down, sliding across the ground towards the ledge. He came to a stop right at the edge, most of his shoes dangling over open air. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he waved his arms around trying to keep his balance. After a second, he stepped back and looked down to see he had almost fallen into a pool of water, just inches below where his feet had been.

Rainbow landed next to him, the others catching up as she asked, "Has it already reached here?!"

Tails said, "No, it's still behind us! This is still stable ground!"

Twilight looked down at the water, "Then this would explain why the Diamond Dogs' paw prints were wet! They must've had to swim here!"

Spike spoke, "Yeah, that's great, Twilight, but WE still have to get out of here!"

Shining looked over at Sonic and asked, "Are you going to need some help getting across this, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog looked back over his shoulder and saw, at the edge of his vision, the corrupted cave creeping up on them. Realizing it would catch up to them soon, he ran over to Rarity and Pinkie Pie and picked them both up, holding them above his head as he ran out onto the surface of the water while saying, "No time for swimming lessons!"

Rarity gasped and tried to keep herself balanced while Pinkie cried, "Wheeeeeeeeee!" at being ferried in this manner.

Everypony looked briefly surprised at Sonic's ability to run on top of the water, but Rainbow soon said, "Can't argue with that!" She spread her wings and took off, grabbing Applejack with her hooves and flying after Sonic while Fluttershy took Spike, Tails grabbed Twilight by her sides, and Cadance combined her magic with her husband's to carry him.

Sonic soon reached the other side of the pool of water and leapt onto dry land, stopping and setting Pinkie Pie and Rarity down on their hooves. The others soon caught up and set their charges down before they all took off running again. It was all flat ground now, and they could see a light coming from up ahead. Sure enough, it was coming from a portal at the end of the cavern and they all leapt through it just about together, leaving the doomed cavern behind. The portal closed after they were all through and shortly afterwards, the corruption caught up and claimed the entire cavern…

* * *

The group lay sprawled out on the ground of… wherever they had ended up, all panting and trying to catch their breaths, the portal they had come through having already closed. Even Spike was lying on the ground, panting as the adrenaline in his system thinned out. Eventually, everyone managed to sit up, no one really ready to stand back up again. Twilight sighed, "Well, we made it… That was crazy…"

Applejack, who was next to her, nodded, "It sure was, Sugarcube." She then looked around, "Where are we now?"

Cadance looked up and said, "It looks like we're still underground somewhere."

Shining looked up and off to the side, where he spotted something interesting. "Is that a… castle?" he asked. Everyone looked up where he was looking and saw a large stone structure with two large torches on the top of the front towering over them. In front of them was a set of stairs leading up to the entrance to the building.

Sonic spoke, "Hey, I recognize that. That's Angel Island's Hidden Palace."

Twilight looked over at him and asked, "Angel Island? You mean Knuckles' home?"

Sonic nodded, "Right. After the Death Egg crashed on the island, Knuckles moved the Master Emerald from its shrine down here to keep it safe while he dealt with the 'intruders'. Eggman ended up finding it after the Death Egg crash-landed again, this time on top of this mountain."

Fluttershy asked, "We're in a mountain right now?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah. Look up there." He pointed up and everyone followed his finger to see a hole some distance away from the roof of the Hidden Palace. Light appeared to be coming down through it. "That light is coming in from the outside. When it crashed, the Death Egg's face poked down through that hole," Tails explained.

Twilight asked, "Wait, if there's a hole up there, are we inside a volcano?"

Sonic replied, "Technically. The Hidden Palace is surrounded by the Lava Reef Zone, which acts kind of like a final line of defense for anyone who comes down here. Nothing to worry about, though; we're past the reef and I'm pretty sure it keeps the mountain from erupting. We're cool."

While he was talking, Tails had pulled out his radar and was examining it. After a minute, he spoke up, "Those weird signals I picked up earlier are starting to clear up." He moved his radar towards the Hidden Palace and said, "It looks like they clear up closer to the Hidden Palace. If we go in there, we might be able to use the Warp Ring to get out of here."

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flapped up off the ground, saying, "Well, let's get in there, then, before something else weird happens!" Everyone stood up and began making their way towards the palace, the walk up the stairs seeming very relaxing after the potentially death-defying run they all just had (except for Rainbow, who hovered over everyone's heads as they went up instead). At the top of the stairs, they went through the archway and, after dodging a pair of flame traps near the entrance, went down the hallway leading into the palace.

The hallway emptied out into what could be considered the palace's lobby. Off to their left, the group could more clearly see the light coming in through the hole at the top of the mountain, though it still looked far away. As they walked down the stairs, Rarity commented, "For such a 'hidden' palace, this is really quite elegant. And it still appears to be in one piece as well. I am quite impressed."

Cadance looked at Sonic and asked, "Did you think it was amazing the first time you came here, Sonic?"

Sonic looked back at her and shrugged, "Eh, I guess it kind of went over my head at the time, Cadance. I ended up getting knocked down closer to the lava down below, so after getting across that, I came in through the lower entrance. Not quite as nice a view from down there. Plus I'd just tangled with Eggman, so I sped through here to see if he'd gotten inside the palace yet."

Cadance replied, "Oh. Well, at least you get the chance to see it now!"

By this time, they had reached the bottom of the stairs and were now walking towards the center of the room. As they reached the center, they all noticed the raised platform there, along with the device sitting in the middle of it and the small, circular roof that had a circular opening in the middle above it. "What's this?" Twilight asked, looking at the red device on the platform.

Sonic answered, "That's a teleporter. I used it to get up here from the bottom level, but it can also be used to reach the Sky Sanctuary." He took a closer look at it before saying, "Looks like it still works, but it probably doesn't go anywhere now, seeing as the Sky Sanctuary was mostly destroyed after Eggman used the Master Emerald to launch the Death Egg."

Tails nodded, "And then the rest of it was destroyed when Knuckles fought that Mecha Sonic robot in what was left of it. So either it won't activate now, or it just leads to open air."

Spike shivered, "That doesn't sound like it would be fun."

Rainbow spoke, "Yeah, yeah. Can we leave yet, Tails?"

The fox glanced down at his radar, which was in his left hand, and said, "We're almost in the clear. It shouldn't be too much farther." He turned and continued walking in the direction of the emerald altar, Sonic and the others following him.

After passing through the archway, the group walked past several columns as they continued on towards the altar room. While they were walking, Shining Armor looked up to his left, where he spotted something that caused him to stop and say, "Whoa." Everyone else came to a stop upon hearing him and looked up to see a large mural spread across the wall. "Is that tapestry showing…?" Shining wondered.

"It looks like it's showing Super Sonic squaring off against Eggman for the Master Emerald," Tails noted.

Sonic crossed his arms, "Huh. I forgot that was up there. Still have no idea who weaved it, though."

Pinkie looked over at him and tilted her head to the side as she asked, "So you saw it the first time you came here? Which means it's been here for like a really, REALLY long time?" Sonic nodded in response.

Applejack looked at him and said, "Some blanket predictin' you'd fight against a total lunatic and then bein' totally right… Well, ain't that the weirdest thing?"

Sonic looked back at her and shrugged, "Eh, I've seen weirder." After a few moments, the group turned and continued on towards the deepest known part of the Hidden Palace.

After about a minute, the group arrived at the entrance to the emerald altar, the Master Emerald's altar directly in front of them in the center surrounded on the sides by seven pedestals. "Ooh, pretty!" Pinkie said.

"Is this the altar? Where's the Master Emerald?" Twilight asked.

Sonic explained, "Knuckles doesn't keep it down here anymore, Twilight, since Eggman knows where it is. Guess he figured it's easier to keep an eye on it at its old shrine than down here or something."

Tails walked towards the altar, his eyes looking down at his radar. As he reached the front of it, he came to a stop and looked down at the dual screens for a moment. He then smiled, "Hey, it's all clear now!" He reached into his tails and pulled out the Warp Ring; tossing it forward, the ring quickly expanded with a *PHVWOW*. Tails pumped his fist, "All right! We're good to go!" After a quick celebration, everyone stepped into the Warp Ring's center, the ring shrinking down and vanishing after everyone was through it.

* * *

Reappearing close to where they had stopped the train, Sonic, Tails, Spike, and the ponies looked towards the front of the train to see the original portal they had gone through was beginning to vanish, the image on its surface completely clouded. After only a couple of seconds, the portal collapsed in on itself and disappeared entirely.

Sonic scratched the back of his head with his right hand as he said, "Well, that was a weird venture, but at least that portal's no longer in the way."

The others, except for Tails, agreed with him, Spike saying, "Yep! So it's a straight shot to Canterlot from here on out, right?"

Tails spoke up, catching everyone's attention, "Uh, I don't know about that, Spike. Take a look at this, guys." Everyone walked over to Tails and looked around him to see that the fox was looking down at his radar again. The bottom screen was displaying readings while the top screen showed the map, currently set to show the train's path to Canterlot. Looking at the top screen, they could see that several blinking dots had shown up on the map. And as they watched, even more dots began to appear…

* * *

Wow. I finished this first chapter WAY later than I intended to. I wanted to have it done in time for MLP: FiM's season four premiere, but it was not to be. Well, at least I got it done in time to kick off the proper Christmas season in a way.

I know some people wanted to see the Diamond Dogs fight Sonic and the others, but even if it continues from a certain point in the main story, I didn't want to kick this story off with a rival battle. I mean, I wanted the Diamond Dogs to appear here; I just didn't want them to fight with the group or just have a background appearance. Also, the Diamond Dogs did not use the same portal the group did to escape the Sonic 2 Hidden Palace; they used a different one that was close to the one the group used that takes them back to their tunnels. They were just gone by the time the group arrived and their portal had already closed.

So let's see. Notes, notes...

The first place the group goes, the infamous "Sonic 2" Hidden Palace Zone, I put together based on videos from the Sonic 2 Beta and the finished version of the zone that appears in the hack "Sonic 2 Long Version".

The gem that the Diamond Dogs find is the same large gem that appears in the Hidden Palace Zone. The fact that it breaks when it hits the ground is due to the fact that it was meant to be a breakable object similar to the breakable objects found in the Hill Top Zone (this was not implemented yet in the beta Sonic 2, but it was in "Sonic 2 Long Version"). Tails saying it was a fake gem is meant to make it seem a little more likely that it would break apart.

When the Hidden Palace Zone is being 'corrupted', it's a reference to how the Hidden Palace Zone appears in the final version of "Sonic 2" if it's accessed with a Game Genie.

The appearance of the "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" Hidden Palace from the outside is based on how it appears in the Archie comics, as is the appearance of the emerald altar. Everything else looks like it does in the game, including the mural.

I think that's it. Sorry for keeping you all waiting and I hope you all thought this was a good way to start things off. Hope to have more done soon!

Music:

Relaxing Train Ride... or Not - Sunset Park Classic - Sonic Generations Remix (NicoCW)

A Truly Hidden Palace - The Palace That Was Never Discovered (Hidden Palace Zone Remix) (RikkiSho)

Diamond Dogs! - Super Ponybeat - Diamond Dogs (Euro Dirt Mix) (Eurobeat Brony)

Unplugged - Run! (Final Fantasy IX)

Taking a Breather - Lava Reef (SuperChaosControl)

Hidden, But Not Forgotten - Hidden Palace Zone Classic - Sonic Generations Remix (NicoCW)

Not So Simple After All - Dr. Eggman [All-Star Theme] (Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed)


	2. Flickies' Island

Princess Luna slowly took a breath as she flew, her wings flapping at an even pace as she followed close behind her sister. At this point, they had to be halfway to Canterlot, both princesses doing quite well despite how long it had been since either of them had had to fly such a long distance on their own. Magic obviously would have provided a faster means of travel, but with time and space messed up as they were, neither one wanted to risk their teleportation magic misfiring at the moment, so flying was the only other option if they wanted to get to Canterlot first.

Hearing a faint sound somewhere behind her, Luna looked back over her shoulder. She gasped as she came to a stop, hovering in the air, and said, "Celestia, look!" The Sun Princess slowed down and looked back in Luna's direction, soon seeing what had caught the Lunar Princess' attention. Looking back across the distance they had flown, both sisters could see space distorting in multiple places, the distortions quickly forming into new portals. Facing forward, Celestia could see more opening up ahead of them, though there appeared to be less in front of them than behind them. Luna looked at Celestia and asked, "What do you suppose is happening?"

Celestia spoke, "If I were to guess, that creature, wherever it is right now, is beginning to accelerate the degradation of time and space between our world and Sonic's world. All these portals that are forming have to be due to its power." She narrowed her eyes, "Is it trying to break down the harmony that has been maintained within this rift up until now? Are we running out of time…?"

Luna asked, "Should we go back? Try to seal some of these portals in order to maintain stability?"

Celestia shook her head, "No. We must continue onward towards Canterlot. I am certain the answer to undoing all of this lies there somewhere. We simply have to proceed with caution from here on out; we don't want to go through one of these portals by accident." She resumed flying forward after she finished speaking, though she now went at a slightly slower speed in order to have enough time to react in case a portal opened directly in front of her.

Luna flew after Celestia, though she asked, "But what about Twilight Sparkle, Sonic, and the others?"

Celestia was silent a moment before she replied, "I see no reason to change our current plan. We will arrive in Canterlot first to investigate the city to determine if there is any danger present within and keep our little ponies as safe as we can. From there, we will determine the best course of action to follow when they arrive with the Elements of Harmony and the Chaos Emeralds."

Luna persisted, "But the portals, Celestia… They will not be able to avoid all of them while they are traveling aboard a train."

Celestia answered, "I am certain they will run into no complications, as long as they remain calm, think about the situation, and listen to each other."

**Meanwhile…**

Rainbow hovered over Tails' head, looking down at the top screen of his radar and the number of blinking dots it displayed. The amount of dots seemed to have stopped climbing a second ago, but there still seemed to be a sizable number of them and, perhaps due to how many there were, the radar couldn't display the exact location of them all in its current view. "That monster must be going all out to keep us from reaching Canterlot," Sonic commented.

"Sure looks that way. You think it was responsible for making that cavern collapse the way it did too?" Shining asked.

Tails looked up at him and said, "I have no idea what caused that, and I'm not sure I want to know. I will say Vector was probably right, though. Someone or something has to be controlling that creature, and whoever it is knows we're coming."

Applejack deadpanned, "Really? What makes ya think this ain't that creature doin' all this by itself, Tails? It had ta know we'd be takin' the train or it wouldn't have reappeared, and this does look like the kinda thing it's been doin' so far."

Tails replied, "That's the thing, though. Up until now, only one portal has appeared at any one time, and occasionally two have shown up. Now all of a sudden, we're seeing a whole bunch of portals appear. If this was just that creature, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't change its strategy so suddenly. There has to be at least one other mind that's responsible for all this."

Applejack looked like she was about to offer a retort, but Rainbow spoke up first, "Who cares about that? That thing's messing up time, and we've got to get to Canterlot and meet up with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to stop it!" With that, she shot off from where she was hovering over Tails back towards the train, flying in through the engine's side window.

Sonic and Applejack looked at each other and then ran over to the train themselves, Sonic placing his hands against the side of the engine and bending forward, allowing Applejack to climb on his back so she could jump up and grab onto the inside of the window. Sonic then leapt up himself, hanging to the earth pony's right as they both looked in to see Rainbow Dash flapping her wings to stay up while she tried to get the train started. "Rainbow, what do ya think you're doin'?" Applejack asked after a moment.

The cyan pegasus stopped flapping around at the sound of the apple pony's voice and turned to look at her and Sonic before saying, "What does it look like I'm doing, AJ? I'm getting the train started because we have to get to Canterlot!"

Sonic asked, "I can see that, but haven't Tails and Pinkie already taken on that job?"

Rainbow fluttered over and landed in front of him and Applejack, saying, "Well, yeah, but we've gotta get moving! I can get us moving twenty percent faster than Tails can, especially since he'd probably want to check everything before starting the train and a whole bunch of other boring stuff too that would keep us from going anywhere. Actually, scratch that; I could get us moving WAY faster than just twenty percent."

Sonic gave her an odd look as he said, "Yeah, maybe you could, but that totally doesn't sound like the Tails I know, especially considering how soon we left Ponyville. Even if he did do a safety check and whatnot, he knows how to stay focused on the task at hand; he'll do what he thinks is necessary at the start and do the rest later. Plus he probably felt doing the full check wasn't necessary with Pinkie Pie around to help."

Rainbow shrugged, "So? He's still a worrywart, Sonic, just like Twilight can be!"

Sonic replied, "Sounds to me like you're judging Tails based on what you think Twilight might do rather than because you actually know what he's like."

Applejack smirked, "He's got ya there, Dash."

Before Rainbow could respond, Pinkie Pie suddenly popped out from behind the cyan pegasus and hugged her, saying, "Yeah, Dashie! Tails isn't silly like that! He's so quick and focused!"

Rainbow looked back at the pink pony as she let go and stepped back, muttering, "Pinkie Pie, you are so random."

Sonic looked at Pinkie, seeming a bit confused. "How did you get back there, Pinkie?" he asked.

"Dunno!" the pink pony giggled. A second later, she stood at attention as her ears twitched, her mane and tail shook, and she blew a raspberry. She then gasped, "Something's about to happen!"

Applejack gulped, "Uh, what kinda somethin' would that be, Pinkie?" She soon got her answer when the train's whistle blew on its own, the whistle somehow sounding suspiciously similar to nails on a chalkboard, causing everyone to wince in pain. While the whistle was blowing, everything started to shift into place on its own, as if being manipulated by some unseen magic.

Outside, everyone recovered from the sound of the train whistle and looked up to see the train suddenly starting to move! It began to move forward, picking up speed as though the throttle had been opened too much. Tails, Spike, and the ponies dashed towards the engine as it started to pass them by, Tails slipping his radar into his right tail while Spike grabbed tightly onto his left tail as he ran.

Sonic and Applejack were still hanging from the window and, at this point, could only watch as the others tried to catch up. When Tails got close enough, Applejack took her right hoof off of the window edge, twisting around slightly and holding her hoof out towards him, saying, "C'mon, Tails, grab on!" The fox made a jump for the hoof, barely managing to grab it with his right hand. Applejack quickly swung him towards Sonic, who used his left hand to push both Tails and Spike inside. Once they were fully inside, Applejack and Sonic looked back at the others, the former calling, "Hurry up, y'all!"

Shining Armor, thanks to his training when he joined the Royal Guard, was the first pony to catch up. Sonic held out his left hand to him; Shining held up his hoof as he leapt up towards it, but he fell short, forcing Sonic to grab him by his hair. The white stallion let out a shout, almost a scream, at feeling his hair being pulled so roughly. "Sorry!" Sonic grunted, swinging him back towards Applejack so she could grab him and they could reposition him.

Cadance could see they were having some difficulty with this, so she spread her wings and took off, flying forward and landing in the cupcake car behind the engine. She then hurried into the engine and poked her head out the right window, using her hooves and magic to help her husband up. She stepped to the side as he fell onto the floor of the engine and sprawled out. "Thank you, Cadance…" he breathed out.

Sonic and Applejack, meanwhile, caught their breaths before looking back at Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Fluttershy was the first to catch up and, after using her wings to help her off the ground, was helped by Applejack while Twilight ran for Sonic. He grabbed her hoof when she jumped and hoisted her up to the window. Looking inside, she saw Tails, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash trying to get the train to stop while Shining, Spike, and Cadance stood back. The lavender unicorn, while panting, asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

Rainbow Dash, while trying to pull what Pinkie and Tails had identified as the reverse bar back, called to her, "I didn't do it, I swear!"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, she didn't." He then helped Twilight the rest of the way in and then looked back at Rarity, the fashionista beginning to fall behind. "Come on, Rarity, just a little longer! You can do it!" he cheered, the white mare finding a burst of stamina at his words.

Rarity managed to catch up and leapt up towards Applejack and Sonic, both of them reaching down and grabbing her hooves. As she and Sonic started pulling the fashionista up, Applejack said, "All right, here we go, Rarity. Up ya go 'n' then…" She was cut off before she could finish speaking by the engine suddenly shaking, the train rattling as it moved. "Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed as she was forced to use both of her hooves to hang on. Rarity did the same thing after Sonic used his free hand to press her up against the side of the engine, the hedgehog then following suit, the three of them dangling there as something continued to shake the train.

Twilight, Cadance, Shining, and Spike moved to help them while the others kept working to slow the train down, the three ponies holding their hooves down for their friends to grab onto, Spike looking between the three and trying to determine who needed his help more. Because of their situation, no one had yet noticed that a portal had appeared on the tracks in front of the train, not even when the train passed through it and their surroundings changed to what looked like a jungle or forested area with some sunlight streaming down through the canopy, though they did, occasionally, faintly hear the sound of rustling leaves and snapping branches.

After about a minute, Rainbow managed to get the reverser bar unstuck and got ready to pull it back, Pinkie already ready to yank the lever in front of her back while Tails closed the throttle carefully. "Okay, guys! Once we slow down a little more, it should be safe to come inside!" the fox called back, the train's momentum already starting to decrease.

However, once the train reached a safe speed, something unexpected happened. As Shining was pulling Sonic up, and Cadance and Twilight were doing the same for Rarity and Applejack respectively, the train drove past a sizable tree branch. It had been pushed off to the side slightly, perhaps by the front of the engine, but as the right window reached it, it suddenly snapped back, striking Sonic in the side and knocking him into Rarity and Applejack! The smack was so sudden and so forceful that the three of them lost their grips and went flying towards the back of the train! "NO! Sonic, Applejack, Rarity!" Twilight cried while Shining and Cadance stared in horror as the three of them disappeared from their sight.

Sonic, Applejack, and Rarity immediately started bouncing and rolling as soon as they hit the ground, the Friendship Express' cars rumbling beside them as they were sent rolling backwards uncontrollably, picking up loose bits of grass, dirt, and stains as they went. Thankfully, none of them ended up going underneath any of the train cars while they were moving, but once they were out of that danger, Sonic came to a stop when he collided with a tree while Rarity and Applejack went a little past the tree, stopping after they crashed through a large bush and landed on some soft but wet moss.

Sonic lay against the tree, groaning slightly as some leaves and something small and pink floated down from it and landed on his head. A moment later, he heard Rarity's cries and perked up, leaning forward and pressing his hands against the ground to help him stand up quicker. He then walked over to where he could hear Rarity's wails, walking around the bush she and Applejack had crashed through and going a little past where it was before finding the two mares together. Rarity was sitting up and looking at her hair, running her front hooves through it to try to get the leaves, dirt, and sap out of it, and Applejack was lying down on her front, her right hoof rubbing her neck as she tilted her head from side to side.

After a moment, Applejack sat up, still rubbing her neck as she opened her eyes and let out a soft groan. She soon glanced to her left and saw Sonic coming towards her, stopping a short distance away. She turned her head towards him and said, "Hey, Sugar-hog. Ya feel okay?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "Yeah. I'd say you two were fine, but it looks like that's not entirely the case." He glanced over at Rarity as he finished speaking, noticing that the white mare had gotten the leaves out of her mane and was now trying to (unsuccessfully) get the dirt and sap out of it.

Applejack looked over at the fashionista and, after a moment, scooted over to her and raised her hooves, placing them on Rarity's hooves and lowering them before saying, "Rarity, calm down. You're just gettin' yer hooves dirty and sticky, and Ah know how much you don't like either one. Don't worry; we'll get ya cleaned up once we figure out where in the Sam Hill we are."

Rarity calmed down a little at the earth pony's words and said, "Okay, Applejack. I just… wish I knew why all this happened so suddenly. You don't suppose…?"

Applejack sighed and said, "Maybe Tails was right when he said that that monster's bein' controlled by somepony or something."

While Applejack was speaking, Sonic was running his left hand across his head, having just noticed that something had landed on it. He brushed off the leaves, but when his hand touched the pink object, he paused for a moment before grabbing it between his thumb and his index finger and bringing it down in front of his face. It was a small card, similar to the business cards that lawyers had. Written on this particular card were four words: '_Enjoying the scenic route?'_

Sonic rolled his eyes before tucking the card in his spines and saying, "Yeah, no doubt about that, Applejack. Come on, we'd better get moving, as long as you two are feeling up to it."

Applejack spoke, "Ah'm fine. Ya don't get ta be a good apple farmer by bein' easy ta knock down, after all!" She looked at Rarity and asked, "How 'bout you, Rarity?"

The white unicorn moved her limbs a little before standing up and replying, "I believe I will be fine as well, Applejack." She stepped off the moss and walked towards Sonic, looking around a bit while Applejack stood up and stretched a bit. She looked back at Sonic after a moment and asked, "Do you have any idea where we are, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog shrugged, "Not right now, Rarity. That's why I think we should get going. We might be able to figure out where we ended up and where the others are." He noticed one strand of Rarity's hair sticking out and tapped it with his right index finger as he said, "And hopefully, we'll find some clean water too."

Rarity sighed, "That would be just lovely right now."

Applejack stepped towards the two and said, "Well, let's go, then! …Any ideas where we should go?"

Sonic jerked his left thumb behind him as he replied, "We should be able to find the train tracks if we head back that way. Then we can just follow them out of here." As he turned around and started walking, he added, "It shouldn't be too hard to figure out where we are and where to go once we get out of this forest." Applejack agreed with that and both she and Rarity trotted after him, going around the bush the two mares had crashed through and heading back the way they rolled.

As they walked, it didn't take long for Sonic, Rarity, and Applejack to notice that the train tracks had seemingly disappeared, as not only could they not find them, but there was nothing to indicate that they had ever been there in the first place. With no other ideas, they kept walking in a straight line, as the look of the forest suggested that it was unlikely that the train would have had a lot of places to make turns at.

After a short while of walking, the forest started to get lighter, inspiring them to pick up the pace slightly. It didn't take long afterwards for the three of them to come to the end of the forest. At the end of the line of trees, they stepped out of the green onto brown soil that was alternated between light and dark brown in a checkerboard pattern. They could also see blue flowers, palm trees, and what appeared to be a mole digging a hole nearby.

"Where are we?" Applejack asked.

While glancing around, Sonic answered, "This looks like the Green Grove on Flicky Island. It's a good place to hang out." Before either mare could ask him about the area, he added, "I know where to find some water if anyone wants to wash up."

Almost immediately, Rarity grabbed onto him with her hooves and desperately said, "Yes, yes please! I really must splash some water on my mane! Please show me where there's water?" Sonic grinned a little nervously at the way Rarity was clinging onto him, but he couldn't say no to someone who wanted to take care of their appearance; he did take the time to take good care of his shoes after all. So he got out of the white mare's grip and began showing her the way, Applejack shaking her head with a slight smirk before following after them.

A few minutes later, Sonic and Applejack were gathered around a small pond, throwing water on their stains while Rarity stood in the pond as she washed her coat, mane, and tail. Applejack finished cleaning what she could, years of growing up on Sweet Apple Acres having taught her to try to use as little water as possible when washing, and looked over at Sonic, the hedgehog kneeling down as he splashed some water on his face with some of it running down the back of his head. After a few seconds, she saw something pink fall down behind him. She called to him, "Hey Sonic, what's that thing behind ya?"

Sonic looked up at her in confusion for a moment before turning his head to look back over his shoulder, his eyes soon spotting the pink object. He reached back and grabbed it with his left hand and held it up to his face to examine it. He quickly deduced that it was a sponge, although it had some familiar words printed on it. "It's a sponge, Applejack. But when it landed on my head earlier, it was a card…" he said with a raised eyebrow.

Applejack also raised an eyebrow. "That was a card? Are you sure?" she asked.

Sonic looked up at her, "A sponge wouldn't land as gently as a leaf. And I know it was a lot thinner than this sponge is."

Rarity asked, "I don't suppose you'd allow me to use it for a moment? I still have a little left to do here, and I have a feeling it would be quite helpful."

Sonic looked at her for a moment before holding it out towards her, "Sure, go ahead." Rarity took it in her magic and used it to scrub herself, Sonic turning his head to the side and holding up his hand to give her as much privacy as he could.

About a minute later, Rarity released her magical grip on the sponge and struck a pose, saying, "Much better."

Applejack asked, "Y'all done, Rarity?"

The fashionista looked at her and replied, "Almost, Applejack. I just need to fix my mane." Applejack let out a small groan at that.

Sonic looked back at her and said, "Well, do what you can. We don't have any brushes and the nearest beauty parlor is miles away." He glanced down at the water and, after a moment, asked, "Hey, where'd that sponge go?"

Rarity started to look down as she said, "I dropped it right…" She stopped herself as she realized she could no longer see the cleaning tool. "It… disappeared?" she asked, as if she couldn't believe what she said either.

"That's weird. Then again, the fact that it showed up in a forest of all places is weird," Sonic commented. He then shrugged, "Well, we'll worry about it later. You said you needed to put your mane in order?"

Rarity looked back at him and said, "Oh, yes. This will just take a minute." She walked to the edge of the pond and stepped out. She then began to use her magic to make the adjustments to her mane and tail, as well as remove as much water as she could.

While she was doing that, Applejack walked around the pond to Sonic and, when he was looking at her, asked him, "So what's the deal with this place? Why's it called 'Flicky Island'?"

Sonic replied, "Oh, that's easy. It's the home of a species of birds called the Flickies. I don't know if you have them back in Equestria, but they're kind of special birds here, especially the ones that live on this island since they hail from another dimension."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Another dimension? Are you kiddin' me?"

Sonic answered, "'Fraid not. That's why Eggman got real interested in them this one time. He captured them with some kind of machine and put them in his Badniks to help him find the Chaos Emeralds. I found out what he was doing when I paid a visit to the island around that time and Tails, Knuckles, and I freed the Flickies and got the Chaos Emeralds before he could and sent him packing. As far as I know, he hasn't come back here since then."

Rarity sighed as she continued to work on her mane and tail, "That Eggman really sounds like quite a cur. I'm quite amazed that Fluttershy didn't get angrier when you were talking about him and what he does with the animals of your world, Sonic."

Applejack looked back at Sonic and said, "Well, ya answered mah question. Now…" She stopped short when she heard what sounded like tweeting nearby. "What's that?" she wondered.

Sonic looked around until he spotted the source: four Flickies, one blue, one red, one pink, and one green, sitting in a nearby tree. He pointed, "Look! Flickies!" He waved up at them, the birds soon noticing him and flying down towards him, the blue and pink Flickies flying normally while the red one dropped down and seemingly bounced towards him and the green one was the slowest one to fly towards Sonic.

Rarity walked over to Sonic and Applejack and looked the birds over. "My, they certainly are cute, aren't they?" she asked.

Sonic nodded, "Yep. And maybe they can help us find the others."

Applejack shrugged, "Ah guess it's worth a shot." She cleared her throat and looked at the birds, "Uh, hi there, y'all." The four Flickies looked at her curiously. "Hey, y'all haven't seen any other ponies on this here island now, have ya?" she asked. The Flickies chirped together in confusion. "Ya know, like me 'n' Rarity right here? Or a dragon or a fox?" Again, the Flickies voiced their confusion.

Sonic thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "I've got an idea. Hang on," he said before suddenly taking off. Applejack, Rarity, and the Flickies waited about a minute before Sonic came back, carrying what appeared to be sand in his arms. He dropped it on the ground in front of the Flickies.

Rarity was quick to notice the bits of sand that still clung to him and exclaimed, "Sonic! Now you need another bath!"

Sonic looked at her and said, "Relax, Rarity. It's just sand; it'll come off nicely." He then crouched down in front of the sand and began to draw in it with his right index finger, making crude sketches of Tails, Spike, and a pony. He then looked at the Flickies and asked, "Have you guys seen any of these?" The birds looked at his pictures and shook their heads. "What about this?" Sonic asked as he brushed away his drawings and started a new one, this one of the Friendship Express. This time, the Flickies nodded and began to point their heads to the west. They then waved with their wings before flying in that direction, Sonic, Rarity, and Applejack following them as they assumed that was what they were telling them.

As they ran through the Green Grove after the Flickies, the three of them saw more of the island's Flickies. Some looked like they were lazing about, others appeared as though they were busy with something, and others looked a bit upset (they were probably the ones who were most disturbed by a train passing through the area). Soon, the Flickies came to a stop and turned back to the trio, the four of them hovering above a giant floating ring with a swirling blue vortex in its opening. Applejack, Rarity, and Sonic came to a stop in front of it, Rarity asking, "Isn't this the Warp Ring?"

Sonic replied, "Not quite. It's one of the rings the Flickies use to travel between dimensions. We should be able to use it, though, to get across the island quicker. That's probably why they led us here."

Applejack looked at the ring and said, "If that's the case, let's go, then!" Sonic nodded and ran towards the ring, jumping into it with Applejack and Rarity following behind him. Once they were all through, the Flickies flew to the front of the ring and looked at the vortex within it, all of them hoping that the three of them would find what they were looking for.

After traveling through the vortex for what seemed like seconds, Sonic, Applejack, and Rarity reached the end of the path and were deposited onto solid ground by another giant ring. Looking at the ground, they saw that it still had a checkerboard pattern to it, but now it was blue and yellow and appeared to be made of stone. Looking around, they saw that the area they were in looked like ancient ruins, plants growing on or out of the stonework in some places. "Now where are we?" Applejack asked.

Sonic answered, "Not sure what it's called; I think I heard Eggman say Rusty Ruin at one point. It's some kind of ancient ruin that he pulled up out of the ocean, probably as part of his search for the Chaos Emeralds."

Rarity looked at one of the kelp plants growing on the wall as she said, "It certainly looks like it was underwater at some point. I hope he at least drained it when he brought it up."

Sonic looked at her as he replied, "I didn't get any unwelcome surprises of that nature when I followed him here." Looking back towards the ruins, he said, "If the Flickies saw the train go through the ring leading here, then the others must be around here somewhere. We'll have to watch our step, though; Eggman made sure to fix up all the old traps in this place."

Applejack sarcastically commented, "Well, ain't that sweet o' him?" Sonic and Rarity shared a look before the three of them started walking, searching for any sign of their friends.

After a while of searching the Rusty Ruin, during which the three of them had to dodge several swinging mace balls and hidden flamethrowers, they were walking through a flat section of the ruins when they heard what sounded like talking nearby, which caused them to stop and listen. Rarity spoke after a moment, "It sounds like… Tails! And Twilight! And Spikey-Wikey! But where are they?"

Sonic turned his head to the left, looking at a row of broken columns past some fans in the ground. "I'm gonna say… over there!" he said before running over to the fans and jumping on one, spinning around on top of it and being sent in the direction of the broken columns. He ended up smashing right through them.

Applejack and Rarity jumped over the fans and ran after him, the latter saying, "Wait for us, Sonic!" When they got past the remains of the destroyed pillars, they found Sonic standing with Tails, Twilight, Spike, Shining Armor, and Cadance near a large broken pillar. The now-found friends quickly noticed the two ponies approaching, especially when Rarity exclaimed, "Tails! Spike! Twilight! Princess Cadance and Shining Armor! You're all safe!"

Twilight said, "Applejack, Rarity! You're both all right too!"

The two ponies stopped next to Sonic, Applejack saying, "We were so worried about y'all!"

Shining Armor chuckled, "Well, WE were worried about YOU! I mean, falling off of a moving train? That's rough! Like, really rough!"

Applejack smiled, but then it faded as she asked, "Where's everypony else?"

Sonic nodded, "I was wondering that too."

Tails started, "Well, see what happened was, after you guys fell off the train, I ended up letting go of the throttle and ran over to the window. I managed to look out the window, but I didn't see any of you. I thought the throttle would've stayed where it was, but it must've opened somehow since the train started going faster. And that's when things really got weird."

Sonic cocked his head to the side, "What do you mean?"

Twilight explained, "When Tails tried to go back and help Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, the train started acting like a spell had actually been cast on it. The shaking was bad before, but it got worse at that moment, and not long after we got out of that forest, the tracks suddenly turned. It was so sharp it nearly threw all of us off too."

Shining nodded and continued for her, "But we managed to stay on the train, at least somewhat, and after we passed through to these ruins, it started bumping into the stones scattered around here. Eventually, it managed to throw us all off and we hit the ground. Pretty hard, I might add. After we recovered from that, we had to take shelter in an alcove since it started raining for a little while and because Cadance wanted to make sure we were all okay."

Cadance rolled her eyes, saying, "Shining, now I'm fairly certain your parents taught you and Twilight to not go running around when you're hurt without getting it looked at first." The white stallion blushed a bit, noticing the motherly tone Cadance used when she said that. The pink alicorn then said, "After the rain stopped, we started looking to see if we could find the train, but we haven't found any tracks yet."

Sonic grunted, "Same thing happened with us."

Rarity nodded, "Yes. We tried to find the train tracks too, but we didn't have any more success."

Spike groaned, "So someone IS messing with us now."

Applejack looked at Tails and said, "Guess you were right after all, Tails."

Tails rubbed the back of his head as he replied, "Well, I don't think that would have helped us avoid this anyway, Applejack. I just hope the train hasn't been derailed yet."

Rarity sighed as she looked around, "So where do we go now? We haven't seen very many of those Flicky birds around here."

Twilight murmured, "Oh yeah, Tails called them Flickies too."

Sonic thought out loud, "I wonder if those tracks are really gone or if they're just hidden?"

Spike asked, "What, you mean like with magic? Because Twilight could make an illusion like that in her sleep. What was happening with the train though, that's a totally different story."

Tails raised his right hand to his chin as he heard them talking. "Hmm… I have an idea." He reached into his right tail and pulled out his radar. The others watched him as he dragged the stylus he'd made for it across its lower screen for a minute. He muttered to himself as he worked, "If I just change this, reverse that, and make an alteration here…" A few moments later, something began to appear on the otherwise blank top screen. "Yes! I've got something!" he exclaimed.

Everybody crowded around to see what it was. "What is that?" Shining asked as he looked at what appeared to be a greenish-yellow cloud making a trail across the screen.

Tails explained, "It's a magic trail. Sonic and Spike were right; those tracks were made up of magic, probably not very complex magic, but there's another kind of magic, probably from whatever spell was cast on the train. That and the magic in those train tracks are making up this trail. We should be able to follow it to the others!"

Sonic smiled, "Well, you've got the radar, Tails. Lead the way!" With that, the combined group started moving through the ruins again, everyone following behind Tails while the fox alternated between looking where he was going and down at his radar. The lack of a map made the path a little confusing at times, but considering what they were tracking, there weren't a lot of surprises in terms of where they had to go to stay on the trail.

Eventually, after dodging more traps in the ruins and running past the area containing the remains of the statue that Eggman fought Sonic with, the group came across another one of the island's giant rings. According to Tails' radar, the trail stopped at the ring, so they figured that meant it had gone through the ring. They quickly did the same, leaping into the ring's vortex and leaving the Rusty Ruin behind.

At the other end of their trip through the ring, the group landed in a colorful area that was clearly not a natural creation. The floor they were standing on had a green and blue checkerboard pattern like the other locations, but it almost looked like it might be shiny. The rest of the area had a variety of colors, particularly red, orange, white, and yellow. "What is this place?" Shining Armor asked.

"It's the Spring Stadium, Shining. Eggman built it," Tails said, pointing down at a nearby deflated balloon that had Eggman's face on it.

"Yeah. No idea why he built it, though," Sonic added.

"Maybe to help him catch Flickies?" Twilight suggested. She looked down at the ground, "This pattern does look like the other areas of the island we've seen."

Applejack spoke up, "Yeah, that's somethin' Ah've been wonderin' about. What is it with this checkerboard pattern? Here Ah can see it, but how does the soil in the Green Grove turn out like that? And the ground in that ruin? It all looks like somethin' Discord would make."

While configuring his radar, Tails responded, "I don't know, Applejack. The ground in the Rusty Ruin could've been tiled like that by the ancient civilization that lived there before, but there could be a lot of reasons for the Green Grove's soil looking like that." He messed about with his radar a little more before saying, "Okay, I've got a lock on the magic trail again. Although the traces of magic are getting weaker, I can definitely say that the train passed through here."

Rarity asked, "Is there enough left to form a trail?"

Tails replied, "It looks like it."

Spike, who was sitting on Twilight's back, smiled, "So we should be able to keep moving like this, right?"

Sonic nodded, "Yep. But we'll still have to watch our step. There are some traps that poke up out of the ground around here, and there are also springs hidden in the floor in some places." With that warning in mind, Tails once again walked in front of the group, leading the way into the Spring Stadium.

As they wandered through the Eggman-built facility, they had to keep an eye out as they walked since, like Sonic said, the floor wasn't entirely safe in places. They had to skip around in areas where there were several holes in the floor to avoid being poked by spikes, avoid areas where there were bigger holes in the floor to avoid spears, and each of them had at least one amusing incident with the bumpers and/or springs set up in places. Eventually, though, the magic trail they were tracking on Tails' radar began to thin out before being lost entirely.

When Tails pointed this out to the others, Twilight asked, "Now what do we do? I thought that trail would've led us straight to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy."

Cadance spoke, "There has to be something around here that can point us in the direction we need to go. We just have to find it."

Shining looked off to his left and saw something in the distance. "Hey, are those rainbows over there?" he asked. Everyone followed his gaze to see that there appeared to be flashes of rainbows appearing and disappearing somewhere up ahead.

"Eggman would never willingly put a rainbow anywhere in or on one of his bases," Sonic noted.

"Then that's gotta be Rainbow Dash! We'd better see what she's up to!" Applejack said. Everyone agreed and started making their way towards the rainbows, going down a winding slide and leaping around more traps as they went.

They soon reached the spot where Shining had seen the rainbows, and sure enough, they found that it was Rainbow Dash making them. However, they saw that Pinkie was there as well, and she was being her normal self, bouncing on (or rather off) the bumpers and saying, "Boingy, boingy, boingy!" And all the while, Rainbow Dash was flying around, trying to catch her and just failing each time she came close to grabbing her.

A couple of seconds after the group arrived on the scene, Rainbow let out a loud groan and said, "Come ON, Pinkie! We gotta go!"

The pink pony bounced up and wrapped herself around a blue balloon, the balloon somehow still floating even with Pinkie holding onto it. "Aw, but this is so much fun, Dashie! All these balloons and bouncy things and everything! Except for those balloons that have that meanie Eggman on them! Those aren't fun!"

Rainbow persisted, "Pinkie, this isn't the time! Fluttershy's all by herself, and we still don't know what happened to Sonic and the others! We need to find them!" She heard a throat clearing nearby and turned her head to find the group standing there. "Uh, okay… That's… Never mind."

Pinkie, who was hanging onto the balloon from the bottom of it now, turned her head to look too and grinned, "Hey guys!" She let go suddenly and fell to the ground, flipping around in mid-fall to land on her hooves. She then said, "You see, Dash? Some things DO come to you if you just wait!"

Sonic and Tails looked at her oddly while Spike and the ponies just looked at each other knowingly for a moment. Applejack then looked at Rainbow Dash and asked, "Glad to see both o' y'all are okay, but where's Fluttershy?"

Pinkie quickly interjected, "She's still on the train!"

Rainbow sighed, "And we would still be too, if it wasn't for Pinkie jumping out of the window. After she got the throttle closed, she went over to the window while I took care of the rest of the whole train-stopping thing and she got really excited when she saw this… place. I barely turned my back for a second, but the next thing I knew, she was gone! I figured she must've fallen off since we went over a hill in that time, so I finished what I was doing and went after her, but she… well, you must've seen what she was doing just now. I've been chasing her around ever since!"

Sonic asked, "What happened to the train?"

Rainbow shrugged, "It must not have come to a stop or started acting weird again, because it kept going after I flew off of it and, when I stopped trying to catch Pinkie for a second and looked for it, I couldn't find it! It must be somewhere else now, and hopefully it's stopped there, wherever it is."

Tails spoke up, "Well, if it kept going the way it's been going so far, I think I know where it went."

Rainbow looked up at that, getting up in his face as she asked, "You do?! Where?! We've gotta get there right away!"

Tails pulled back from the cyan mare, saying, "T-Take it easy, Rainbow. I'm sure Fluttershy is okay, but we'll know soon enough." He looked at Sonic and asked, "Do you remember where the next ring is?"

Sonic replied, "I think so. Let's go!" With that, he took the lead, the others, including Pinkie Pie, following behind him through the Spring Stadium. After a few minutes, they came across another giant ring and went through it, Rainbow flying into it and Pinkie bouncing into it while everyone else jumped into it.

The group soon exited the ring's vortex, finding themselves in a land full of snow. Thankfully, they landed on dry ground that was in a checkerboard pattern, this one being light blue and gray. Looking around, it didn't appear Fluttershy was in the immediate vicinity. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy, darling! Can you hear me?" Rarity called.

"She must not be close by. With as quiet as this place is, she should've heard that," Tails noted.

Sonic looked at Twilight and asked, "She wouldn't go far from the train, would she?"

Twilight shook her head, "Not unless she had a really good reason too. Unless there's something here that could give her that reason, she's probably still with the train."

Shining rubbed his left hoof against his right foreleg as he said, "Then we'd better get moving. It's not too cold out here, but we shouldn't stay here too long."

Rainbow spoke up, "Hold up, dudes! I'll fly up and see if I can spot the train from the sky!" Without waiting for a response, she flew up high above the winter wonderland and started looking down below, searching for the train. She soon saw what she was looking for and flew back down to the ground and said, "I saw it! There's a big pine tree in the center of this place! It stopped there!" She then took off again, wanting to make sure Fluttershy was okay while the others started heading where she had directed them.

It took crossing an ice river and sliding down a few ice-covered slopes in addition to all the running, but the group made it to the center of the wintery area in a relatively short time. There they saw the pine tree Rainbow had mentioned, bigger than the other trees they had seen so far and sitting in the middle of a snow-covered area, which looked similar to the area where Sonic and Eggman fought on this part of Flicky Island, at least in terms of size. And there, behind the trees on the ledge overlooking the clearing was the train they had been searching for.

As they got closer, they saw more Flickies flying around the tree as well as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy standing in the clearing near the tree. When they were closer, they could the two of them talking. "But Rainbow Dash, this is really important to the Flickies," Fluttershy was saying.

"Yeah, well, none of it is going to matter if we don't stop that monster that's messed everything up! We gotta leave, Fluttershy!" Rainbow replied.

"I can't just abandon little birdies when they're asking for help," Fluttershy murmured.

Rainbow's response was cut off by Rarity suddenly exclaiming, "Fluttershy!" The two pegasi turned to look at the fashionista as she rushed towards them and wrapped the timid pegasus in a hug. "Thank goodness you're all right!" she said.

Fluttershy, while surprised, managed to say, "H-Hello, Rarity. Yes, I'm okay."

Rainbow looked at the others as they approached and said, "Hey, you guys made it!"

Sonic replied as they stopped near the three ponies, "Yep. So what's going on here?"

Rainbow answered, "Fluttershy doesn't want to leave yet. She says these birds need help with this tree and she wants to help them."

Fluttershy, having been released from Rarity's hug, explained, "The Flickies want to decorate this tree and make it look really pretty. They're saying that it's something they do at this time of year and it will bring back the one thing that's missing."

Twilight tilted her head to the side, "What are they missing?"

Fluttershy answered, "They're saying it's supposed to be snowing here, but it isn't and they're worried."

Sonic glanced up as he said, "Come to think of it, it WAS snowing last time Tails and I were here. Like, the whole time we were here."

Fluttershy nodded, "They said that, if they decorate the tree, they'll be able to bring the snow back."

Tails asked, "And they need help getting the decorations up?"

Fluttershy shook her head, "No. They're saying that some bad robots came and took their decorations. They were really upset about it, so I was trying to calm them down. I don't know how else to help them."

Applejack looked at Sonic and asked, "Sonic, didn't you say that Eggman would put animals like the Flickies in his robots to power 'em? Ah thought you saved all the Flickies when Eggman was here?"

Sonic answered, "I did, Applejack, but the robots patrolling Eggman's base here didn't have any animals powering them. Some of them must've survived the destruction of Eggman's base. Those are the only Badniks I can think of that could still be working here."

Fluttershy flew over to him and asked, "Can we get the decorations they stole from the Flickies back?"

Sonic replied, "Sure, it's no problem." He looked at Tails and Twilight and asked, "Right?"

Tails quickly nodded while Twilight thought for a moment before replying, "Sure."

Rainbow exclaimed, "What?! Sonic, Twilight, we don't have time for this! We've got a monster to stop, remember?!"

Sonic looked at her and said, "Dash, relax. This won't take long."

Rainbow retorted, "Yeah, that's what we thought about that cave too, and look how that turned out! So they need help getting some decorations back for a tree. It can wait until we're done! This is more important!"

Sonic retorted, "Really? Because I beg to differ."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sonic answered, "Look, I realize we have bigger things to worry about right now," he raised his left hand to gesture at the Flickies hovering around, "but the Flickies are my friends, you know, and Fluttershy wants to help them bring the snow back. That's enough, isn't it? Just because it seems like it's a minor thing doesn't mean we can just turn a blind eye to them."

Twilight glanced off to the side as she thought, "_That's true. But even so, I've seen it happen before._"

Cadance spoke up, "I would have to agree with Sonic, Rainbow Dash. The Flickies would like our help so that they can do something special they, as Fluttershy mentioned, do often. We're here now, so we can spare some time to help them now. It's the sort of thing a friend would do for someone else."

Rainbow groaned, "Ugh, fine. But we're leaving right away after we're done helping them!"

Pinkie piped up, "Great! So let's split up and get the goodies back and save the Flickies' special time of the year!"

Shining spoke up, "Listen, before we get started, let's try to work as efficiently as possible. If anyone finds anything, bring it back here right away. We won't start decorating the tree until the Flickies confirm we've found everything." He looked at Fluttershy and said, "I hope you'll be able to help us with that, Fluttershy."

The shy pegasus smiled, "I'll do my best."

Once everyone was clear on what to do, Rainbow Dash flew off to start searching while the others began to fan out and search. Before he left, Sonic looked at Pinkie, the pink pony beginning to bounce off to go searching, and called, "Hey, Pinkie, wait a second!"

The party pony stopped in mid-bounce and, after landing, trotted over to him and Tails and asked, "Yes, Sonic?"

Sonic replied, "Listen, can you and Tails go check the train and try to get it ready while the rest of us search? Rainbow seems irritated enough about this whole thing already; I'd like to not make it worse, if that's possible."

Tails sighed, "I can't argue with that. Don't worry; we'll have it ready in time." Pinkie nodded in agreement.

Sonic smiled, "Thanks, you two. We'll be back soon!" With that, he took off to do his part in the search while Tails and Pinkie headed up to the engine to get to work.

**A short while later…**

Everyone met up back at the large pine tree, a total of five different decoration pieces having been collected. As Sonic had thought, the Badniks that had stolen the Flickies' decorations had come from Eggman's main base, and they had been in a sorry condition, with cracked exteriors, exposed wiring, and not functioning as well as they used to; it was a miracle they had made it as far as they had from the old base, though it seemed they were just wandering around aimlessly at that point. Two of the four-legged robots had run off with the ornaments, which were recovered by Twilight, Spike, and Rarity, and three of the blue flying robots had stolen the ribbons, garland, and bells, which were respectively retrieved by Cadance and Shining Armor, Sonic and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

As they gathered around the tree, Tails and Pinkie Pie came down from the train and Fluttershy talked to the Flickies, who told her they had found everything. Thus, with quite a bit of help from Tails, Cadance, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, the group helped the Flickies decorate the tree, wrapping the garland and ribbon around it and hanging the ornaments on the branches. Once done, they all stepped back to admire their work.

"The Flickies certainly seem pleased," Rarity noted, looking at all the birds fluttering around the tree.

"Oh yes, they seem very happy now," Fluttershy nodded.

Rainbow looked up and asked, "So… when is this snow they mentioned going to start?"

Tails looked up at the tree and held his left hand up to his chin. "Hmm… it almost seems like it's missing something," he said after a moment.

Spike looked up at him and asked, "Like what?"

Sonic looked at the top of the tree for a second and then his eyes trailed down to his left to Twilight's cutie mark. "I know what it is," he said. He pointed at the six-pronged star, "It needs one of these on top."

Twilight looked down at her flank for a moment before turning and looking up at the tree. She couldn't deny it looked a bit empty up on the top. She charged her magic into her horn and, after a moment, a lavender six-pronged star floated up out of it and up towards the tree, coming to rest on the very top. There it pulsed for a few seconds before it glowed brightly and released a wave of energy. A second later, snow, or to be more accurate diamond dust, began to fall from the sky!

Everyone was amazed by this display of magic, the kind that only the holidays can bring to others. Even the Flickies could feel it since they seemed even happier now, flying around the group and chirping happily. After playing with the Flickies and enjoying the scene for a minute, Cadance spoke up, "After everything we went through on this island, to be able to see this wonderful scene… it makes being separated and having to go through trap-filled areas all worthwhile. I only wish we could be a part of it longer."

Twilight looked at her and said, "I do too, Cadance, because you're right. This really was worth all the trouble that happened up to this point. But we still have a job to do."

Sonic walked over and nodded, "Right. We made it happen; now we've gotta make sure it lasts for the Flickies." He turned to Tails and Pinkie Pie and asked, "Are we all ready to go?"

Tails smiled, "Of course! Pinkie and I did our part while you guys were gone. We checked everything, set it all up, and got a fire going." He gestured with his left hand towards the train, indicating the steam coming from the engine's stack.

Pinkie grinned, "We are good to go!"

Shining said, "Then we should go. To preserve this moment along with every other moment we've ever had." With that, the group made their way to the train, Tails carrying Pinkie with him up to the engine and Rainbow Dash flying up behind him. Everyone else made their way up a nearby slope to reach the train. They all climbed aboard the engine, Tails doing one last check on everything before getting the train going.

As the train started to move and follow the tracks in front of it, Sonic and a few of the ponies looked out the windows towards the back to see the magically created tracks fading away as the caboose followed behind the rest of the cars. The tracks led them up to the side of the island's volcano and, thankfully, around it before straightening out and going to a portal.

As they approached their exit, Tails and some of the ponies went to the left window while Sonic, Spike, and the rest of the ponies went to the adjacent cupcake car and looked out the left side. As they took one last look at the tree they helped decorate, they all waved to the Flickies, the birds hovering as they waved back to them. They continued waving for a short while even after the train had gone through the portal, the last of the tracks fading after it had gone through, before returning to their tree. This time of the year was always special for them, but this year it was all the more special. Not only had they reunited with old friends and made some new ones, but this year they had their own star of night.

A star with royal beauty bright.

* * *

Well, uh... I don't know what to say about this one. I both like and dislike it. I intended to use the setting of "Sonic 3D Blast" for this chapter and hopefully throw in some of its game mechanics, but then I wanted to give it kind of a Christmas theme as well. Needless to say, on all accounts, I feel very neutral about it. Probably would've helped if I'd posted it up on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but I didn't. Well, a day or two late is still better than a week late...

Well, anyway, I hope everyone had a great holiday. Happy (belated) holiday to you all.

Now then...

It seems I forgot that I was going to throw in a reference to "Sonic Shuffle" when I was writing this, particularly to the board Riot Train. Sonic would have said something along the lines of what happened to the Friendship Express being similar to a dream he had once, referencing the fact that Riot Train is his dream, according to the game's intro sequence. Ah, well. It probably would've seemed like an obscure reference anyway.

The card that turns into a sponge (hmm, I wonder who could've left that for them?) is a reference to the character Lionel Hutz from "The Simpsons", who had a similar business card. R.I.P., Phil Hartman...

The levels here use characteristics from both the Genesis and Saturn versions of "Sonic 3D Blast", such as the rain falling in the Rusty Ruin Zone occasionally happening on the Saturn version and it not snowing in the Diamond Dust Zone in the Genesis version.

I know the Flickies use the giant rings (Dimension Rings, if you prefer) to travel between dimensions, but both the game and the Archie comics show Sonic being able to travel through them as well. That's why they're used to move around Flicky Island. (I would mention the Fleetway comics too, but the Mobius Ring was used to travel to another planet in that)

Searching for everyone and then collecting the stolen decorations for the tree (yeah, it was a lame idea, I admit it) are a reference to collecting the Flickies and getting them to safety in "Sonic 3D Blast".

Well, that's about it, I guess. This chapter was at least good for warming up. When I get to the Storybook chapters, it'll be kind of like this in that I likely won't select just one stage for them but try to include several. Hopefully, it will proceed a lot smoother then.

See you all in 2014!

Music:

Threat Level Increasing - Opening (Bomberman 64)

Riot Train - Train (Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2)

Recovering From the Fall - Forest of Mystery (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds)

A Familiar Setting and a Story - Green Grove Zone Act 1 (Sega Genesis Remix) (Genesis X)

Not Quite a Temple of Doom - Rusty Ruin Zone Classic - Sonic Generations Remix (NicoCW)

Carnival Time? - Spring Stadium Zone Classic - Sonic Generations Remix (NicoCW)

Winter Wonderland - Sonic 3d Diamond Dust Zone Act 2 (Cover/Mix) (MrSonicMoveDj)

The Holiday Spirit - Diamond Dust Zone Modern - Sonic Generations Remix (NicoCW)


End file.
